dropSchema

Last updated: January 27, 2026

Drops a schema in Snowflake with optional CASCADE/RESTRICT modes and IF EXISTS support.

Note: This change type does not support automatic rollback or database inspection features (snapshot, diff, diff-changelog, and generate-changelog commands).

Available attributes

Attribute	Type	Description	Required
`catalogName`	String	Name of the database containing the schema	No
`schemaName`	String	Name of the schema to drop	Yes
`ifExists`	Boolean	Don't error if schema doesn't exist using `IF EXISTS`	No
`dropMode`	String	`CASCADE` (drop all objects) or `RESTRICT` (fail if not empty)	No

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<databaseChangeLog
        xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
        xmlns:pro-snowflake="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake/liquibase-pro-snowflake-latest.xsd">

    <!-- Basic drop -->
    <changeSet id="drop-schema" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:dropSchema schemaName="OLD_SCHEMA"/>
    </changeSet>

    <!-- Drop with IF EXISTS -->
    <changeSet id="drop-schema-if-exists" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:dropSchema
                schemaName="TEMP_SCHEMA"
                ifExists="true"/>
    </changeSet>

    <!-- Drop with CASCADE -->
    <changeSet id="drop-schema-cascade" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:dropSchema
                schemaName="STAGING"
                ifExists="true"
                dropMode="CASCADE"/>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

{
  "databaseChangeLog": [
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "drop-schema",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "dropSchema": {
              "schemaName": "OLD_SCHEMA"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "drop-schema-if-exists",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "dropSchema": {
              "schemaName": "TEMP_SCHEMA",
              "ifExists": true
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "drop-schema-cascade",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "dropSchema": {
              "schemaName": "STAGING",
              "ifExists": true,
              "dropMode": "CASCADE"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

databaseChangeLog:
  # Basic drop
  - changeSet:
      id: drop-schema
      author: examples
      changes:
        - dropSchema:
            schemaName: OLD_SCHEMA

  # Drop with IF EXISTS
  - changeSet:
      id: drop-schema-if-exists
      author: examples
      changes:
        - dropSchema:
            schemaName: TEMP_SCHEMA
            ifExists: true

  # Drop with CASCADE
  - changeSet:
      id: drop-schema-cascade
      author: examples
      changes:
        - dropSchema:
            schemaName: STAGING
            ifExists: true
            dropMode: CASCADE

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset examples:basic-drop
-- Basic drop
DROP SCHEMA OLD_SCHEMA;

--changeset examples:drop-with-if-exists
-- Drop with IF EXISTS
DROP SCHEMA IF EXISTS TEMP_SCHEMA;

--changeset examples:drop-with-cascade
-- Drop with CASCADE
DROP SCHEMA IF EXISTS STAGING CASCADE;

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<databaseChangeLog
        xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
        xmlns:pro-snowflake="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake/liquibase-pro-snowflake-latest.xsd">

    <!-- Basic drop -->
    <changeSet id="drop-schema" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:dropSchema schemaName="OLD_SCHEMA"/>
    </changeSet>

    <!-- Drop with IF EXISTS -->
    <changeSet id="drop-schema-if-exists" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:dropSchema
                schemaName="TEMP_SCHEMA"
                ifExists="true"/>
    </changeSet>

    <!-- Drop with CASCADE -->
    <changeSet id="drop-schema-cascade" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:dropSchema
                schemaName="STAGING"
                ifExists="true"
                dropMode="CASCADE"/>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

{
  "databaseChangeLog": [
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "drop-schema",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "dropSchema": {
              "schemaName": "OLD_SCHEMA"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "drop-schema-if-exists",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "dropSchema": {
              "schemaName": "TEMP_SCHEMA",
              "ifExists": true
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "drop-schema-cascade",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "dropSchema": {
              "schemaName": "STAGING",
              "ifExists": true,
              "dropMode": "CASCADE"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

databaseChangeLog:
  # Basic drop
  - changeSet:
      id: drop-schema
      author: examples
      changes:
        - dropSchema:
            schemaName: OLD_SCHEMA

  # Drop with IF EXISTS
  - changeSet:
      id: drop-schema-if-exists
      author: examples
      changes:
        - dropSchema:
            schemaName: TEMP_SCHEMA
            ifExists: true

  # Drop with CASCADE
  - changeSet:
      id: drop-schema-cascade
      author: examples
      changes:
        - dropSchema:
            schemaName: STAGING
            ifExists: true
            dropMode: CASCADE

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset examples:basic-drop
-- Basic drop
DROP SCHEMA OLD_SCHEMA;

--changeset examples:drop-with-if-exists
-- Drop with IF EXISTS
DROP SCHEMA IF EXISTS TEMP_SCHEMA;

--changeset examples:drop-with-cascade
-- Drop with CASCADE
DROP SCHEMA IF EXISTS STAGING CASCADE;

dropSchema

Available attributes

XML example

JSON example

YAML example

SQL example

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